Alain de Botton finds solace in the writings of pessimist philosophers, from
Pascal to John Gray

There’s still a strange prejudice that the best way to cheer someone else is to say happy things. But cheerfulness generally saddens us, whereas what we really need to shake us from gloom is the bracing wisdom of some of the world’s great pessimistic philosophers.

Among my favourites are Pascal, who in his Pensées, describes the inanity and frivolity of most human beings and their denial of the grim facts of life through their pursuit of power and money. Equally enjoyable is La Rochefoucauld, whose Maxims are made up of deliciously tart bitter truths.

Chamfort is another great French writer of aphoristic truths, and his Maxims contains this wisdom that I try to think of every day: “A man should be sure to swallow a toad every morning to be sure of not meeting with anything more disgusting in the day ahead.”

Arthur Schopenhauer represents Germany’s greatest contribution to the tradition of philosophical pessimism. The Wisdom of Life is packed with advice on how to disappoint yourself before life gets a chance to do it for you.

John Gray’s Straw Dogs is a welcome contemporary addition to the literature of philosophical pessimism. He sums up human beings as vicious, demented animals who have the arrogance to believe themselves better than other creatures on this earth. His prognosis is that we will eventually destroy the planet and ourselves. This book does not sadden its readers, but makes them appreciate the wonders of existence afresh.